Scenic USA - Washington

Each day Scenic USA presents a new and interesting photo feature from somewhere in the United States. Chosen from a wide variety
of historic sites, city scenes, backcountry byways, points of interest and America's best parklands, this site offers the viewer hundreds
of unique vacation destinations and photographic subjects. Each feature is coupled with a brief explanation. For further detailed
information, links to other sites are provided, but are never to be considered an endorsement.

Little Chapel on the Hill

Stotts Chapel - Curlew, Washington

Photo by Jim Stiles
Jim Stiles Photography

     Giving the impression of Van Gogh's Starry Night, this exaggerated star-filled sky was captured during the annual Perseid meteor shower. Not far from the Canadian border, this Little Chapel on the Hill creates a wonderful foreground element for Curlew's star-filled sky. Locally known as Stotts Chapel, this tiny non-denominational church was built by the Stotts family as a focal point for the community, rather than a full-time church. The well proportioned building, built in the late 90s, features hand crafted pews and a stained glass window cross. Its classic bell tower has watched over the occasional wedding, including builder Joe Stotts and his bride.
     This star trails composition uses a few 21st century style gadgets, including a DLSR camera, photographic intervalometer and an invaluable piece of freebie software called StarStax. Once the camera focus is established, the intervalometer shoots a long series of images, each a minute long with a slight gap in the hour long time lapse sequence. StarStax is an image stacking software that blends together a series of photos into a single image. After a quick look at Marcus Enzweker's tutorial, you'll see his software doesn't require a steep learning curve. Supporting a variety of image formats (other than raw images), it looks like another 21st century Vincent Van Gogh is just waiting to be discovered.

    Map